Ingrid Turner picked to lead Pr. George's council; no committees for Johnson

By
Miranda S. Spivack and Ovetta Wiggins

Update, 2:28 p.m.: The council did not seat Leslie Johnson on any of its four standing committees during a meeting in Upper Marlboro to select a leadership structure and dole out assignments.

Original post: Prince George's County Council voted unanimously for Ingrid Turner to be its new chairman. Turner, a lawyer who is beginning her second term on the council and who represents a northern district, beat back a challenge from Andrea Harrison in a deal that was cut behind closed doors.

Council member Eric Olson (D-College Park) was elected vice chairman on a 8-0 vote, with member Leslie Johnson (D) abstaining. Olson was one of five members who had said she should not take her seat on the council because of pending federal corruption charges against her and her husband, former County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D).

Leslie Johnson was not given any committee leadership position, but it's not yet clear if her fellow council members will agree to allow her to serve as a member of one of the council's four standing committee. Council member Will Campos (D-Hyattsville) who brokered the deal that led to the elections of Turner and Olson, said he opposed having Johnson serve on any committees. "In my personal opinion, I would be looking for that," Campos said.

In an interview following inaugural ceremonies on Monday, Leslie Johnson said she was lawfully elected to serve her district's constituents. "The voters have spoken," said Johnson, who was elected 10 days before she and her husband were arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and destruction of evidence.

Johnson and her husband were arrested Nov. 12 after federal investigators said they overheard the couple on a wiretap allegedly plotting to flush a $100,000 check from a developer down a toilet and stuff $79,6000 in cash her bra while two FBI agents waited outside the couple's Mitchellville home. They are both charged with evidence tampering and destruction of evidence.

Hasn't this poor, hard working, devoted, public servant suffered enough? Isn't it her and her business alone what she and her husband do for kicks in the privacy of their own home. So she likes to stuff cash in her underwear, so what?

Given the circumstances and the gravitas of the day I felt she showed great restraint and decorum by not wearing her sables. For her it was enough that we know she has them.

The situation is NOT RIGHT and indicates the QUAGMIRE in which Prince Garbage County finds itself.

If Leslie Johnson shall be INNOCENT until proven GUILTY, then she shall be accorded all the responsibilities of an innocent council member including a position on a standing committee.

The members of the council are demonstrating an incredible amount of IGNORANCE, here.

And the citizens of our hapless county do not understand, either.

Placed in a position of responsibility and public SCRUTINY, Leslie Johnson must abide by the law and will show us all, by her record of performance, whether she respects the bible she swore upon or the letter and spirit of the oath she took.

By failing to understand the situation and demonstratively according Leslie Johnson FULL RESPONSIBILITIES unless and until PROVEN GUILTY, the OTHER eight honourable members of our County Council have shown us all, by THEIR record of performance, that they simply do not understand their job.

That is particularly disappointing in the case of those starting their SECOND TERM.

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